Isaiah 41:10,13,14; 60:16; 63:1; John 6:37
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness―For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not: I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel: I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel―I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob―I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
WILLIAM FAREL (1489-1565): God has chosen, before the foundation of the world, all those who have been, or will be saved. It is therefore impossible for them not to be saved.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): God’s eternal Election is the first link in that chain of a sinner’s salvation of which heavenly glory is the end.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): One of the outstanding glories of the Gospel is its promise of eternal security to all who truly believe it…It proclaims no feeble Redeemer, but One who is mighty to save: though the world, the flesh and the Devil, combine against Him, He cannot be frustrated. He who triumphed over the grave cannot be thwarted by any feebleness or fickleness in His people. “He is able―which would not be true if their unwillingness could balk Him―to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,” Hebrews 7:25. Those whom He pardons He preserves. Therefore each one who trusts in Him, though conscious of his own weakness and wickedness, may confidently exclaim “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” 2 Timothy 1:12.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): If my confidence of my final salvation, and of my ultimate perfection, rested in myself―my own energy, my own zeal, my own purposes and desires―I know that I’d never get there. My assurance is based on this: that God, the infinite eternal God, is vindicating His own eternal character, through me. And if He started saving me, and then left it undone or unfinished, and I ever arrived in hell, the devil would have the greatest joke of eternity. He’d say “there’s a being that God began to save, and failed to complete.” It’s impossible, it can’t happen. There is no more monstrous idea than the idea that you can fall away from grace―that you can ever be born again, and then be damned! The character of God is involved, it’s impossible! It’s not merely to save me, it’s to vindicate His own being and nature.
A. W. PINK: The honour and glory of Jehovah is bound up in the final perseverance of the saints: let us now proceed to amplify that assertion. God the Father predestinated His people “to be conformed to the image of His Son,” Romans 8:29, which conformity is not fully wrought in any of them in this life, but awaits the day of Christ’s appearing (1 John 3:2). Now is the Father’s eternal purpose placed in jeopardy by the human will? is its fulfillment contingent upon human conduct? or, having ordained the end will He not also make infallibly effectual all means to that end? That predestination is founded upon His love: “I have loved thee―says the Father to each of His elect―with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3. Nor is there any variation in His love, for God is not fickle like us: “I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Malachi 3:6. Were it possible for one of God’s elect to totally apostatize and finally perish it would mean the Father had purposed something which He failed to effect and that His love was thwarted.
C. H. SPURGEON: If the Lord begins to build, and does not finish, it will not be to His honour.
A. W. PINK: If left entirely to themselves believers would perish. Temptations and tribulations from without and corruptions from within would prove too strong for them, and therefore does Christ make intercession on their behalf, that God would grant them such supplies of grace and pardoning mercy that they will be preserved from total apostasy…So far from the good Shepherd proving unfaithful to His trust, He has given express assurance that not one of His sheep shall perish, John 10:27-30.
JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): Did Christ finish His work for us? Then there can be no doubt but He will also finish His work in us.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The thing’s absolutely certain, because God’s character is involved in it. He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it, unto the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:6.
C. H. SPURGEON: Why? First, because He has promised to do it; and God’s promises are bonds that never yet were dishonoured. If He hath said He will, He will. Secondly, because Christ Jesus hath taken an oath that He will do it―and, therefore, because Christ is responsible, because He is the heavenly sponsor for all God’s people, they must be kept: for otherwise Christ’s bond were forfeited, and His oath were null and void. They must be kept, again, because otherwise the union that there is between all of them and Christ would not be a real one. Christ and His church are one—one body; but if any of the members of my body were cut off, I should be maimed, and if Christ could lose one of His children He would be a maimed Christ. We are His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, Ephesians 1:23. If, then, the whole church were not gathered in, Christ would be an incomplete Christ, seeing He would want His fullness. They must all be saved, for God the Father has determined that they shall be; nay, the Son has sworn they shall be; and God the Holy Spirit vouches for it they shall be…If you are indeed a believer you are one with Jesus, and therefore you are secure. Do you not see that it must be so? You must be confirmed to the end until the day of His appearing, if you have indeed been made one with Jesus by the irrevocable act of God. Christ and the believing sinner are in the same boat: unless Jesus sinks, the believer will never drown.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He tells us, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, Matthew 28:18…He has all power―that He might give eternal life to as many were given Him, for the more effectual carrying on and completing our salvation.
C. H. SPURGEON: None of God’s people shall be cast away, or else the Bible is not true.
